Gospel: August 20, 2025
August 20, 2025 (Wednesday)
20th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 4 / (White)
St. Bernard, abbot and doctor
Ps 21:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
Lord, in your strength the king is glad.
1st Reading: Judges 9:6-15
Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16
This story throws light on the kingdom of heaven: A landowner went out early in the morning, to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay each worker the usual daily wage, and sent them to his vineyard. He went out again, at about nine in the morning, and, seeing others idle in the town square, he said to them, ‘You also, go to my vineyard, and I will pay you what is just.’ So they went. The owner went out at midday, and, again, at three in the afternoon, and he made the same offer. Again he went out, at the last working hour the eleventh and he saw others standing around. So he said to them, ‘Why do you stand idle the whole day?’ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ The master said, ‘Go, and work in my vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wage, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ Those who had gone to work at the eleventh hour came up, and were each given a silver coin. When it was the turn of the first, they thought they would receive more. But they, too, received one silver coin. On receiving it, they began to grumble against the landowner. They said, ‘These last, hardly worked an hour; yet, you have treated them the same as us, who have endured the heavy work of the day and the heat.’ The owner said to one of them, ‘Friend, I have not been unjust to you. Did we not agree on one silver coin per day? So, take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last the same as I give to you. Don’t I have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Why are you envious when I am kind?’ So will it be: the last will be first, the first will be last.”
Reflection:
“He is rich in Mercy.”
Today’s parable expresses the generous love of God. The vineyard workers who have worked all day think they have been treated unfairly because they have done more work but received the same pay. However, this is looking at things from the wrong perspective. “Friend, I have not been unjust to you. Did we not agree on one silver coin per day?” So the landowner is not being unfair. Instead, he is treating the first fairly and being generous to the latecomers. Charity is not the opposite of justice. Rather, charity goes beyond justice, beyond what is fair, to enter the realms of generosity and compassion. This is how God treats his children. He is rich in mercy. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux frequently reflected on the mercy of God, pointing out that the justice and mercy of God go together rather than contradict each other. In his justice he sees our sins; in his mercy he pardons them. This healing mercy is poured out upon us like oil, says Bernard, not only to pardon us, but to enable us to pour the oil of mercy on others and to warm their hearts with the fire of charity.
